User blog:OvaltinePatrol/I Wish I Was In Chi-Town.
Disclaimer: This story is set in a fanon version of Kentucky that no longer exists as of the time of this notice. The smell of the ancient and freshly dead perfumed the air. Bluegrass ash drifted on the wind from the north-east. Hud kept his back pressed firmly on the rusted hulk of a Transverse Stormbird, doing his best to ignore the rank stench that came from the deceased Ned, who had voided his bowels an hour ago. Hud peeked over the hood of the wreck, spying a skirmish between Cumberlanders and Commies. He didn't know what the Commies were doing this far west, but he knew if either side of that fight should find him, he was a dead man. Hud fought for King Grisham as a loyal soldier of the Kingdom; for certain values of "fought," and "loyal," anyways. Hud didn't regret his lack of enthusiasm for the Kingdom or fighting its war, patriotic fervor hadn't saved Ned. His Becky wasn't even in the Kingdom now, she had gone with the caravan to trade with the Brothers in Steel: the mad monks of the lake-lands who worshipped machines, wore machines. Hud was deep in reverie, dreaming of his sweet Becky when a lone Commie leapt onto the hood of the S-Bird and tumbled down between the corpse of Ned and the daydreaming Hud. The rattle of steel and the warmth of another person snapped Hud back to reality, where a .32 was waiting in front of his face. "Kinglander," the Commie hissed "Thought Cumberland pushed you lot to Mathers Mill." Hud looked at the pistol in his face with an out-of-place sense of serenity. For several, achingly long moments he said nothing, there hadn't been a question or a demand in the Commie's words. "Yeah," he settled "Yeah, that happened. You going to shoot me Comm-ah...Comrade?" The Commie snorted and put the pistol down "Wasn't loaded. Haven't had a bullet for days," he sighed. Hud snuck another look over the hood and saw the fight still going strong in the distance. Hud ducked back down and stuck his thumb back in that direction "What about that lot, you ain't with them? You a deserter?" "Yeah I'm a fucking deserter. Hey, you Kingdom people are all rich, gimme a smoke," the Commie took to leaning on the S-Bird, almost completely relaxed. Hud smiled wistfully "Didn't get any smokes with the last rations. You can check Ned, I didn't go through his pockets yet," he offered. "Ned," the Commie said with an inquisitive inflection to his voice "Ned's filled his pants with shit, I'm not going through his pockets." They spent several minutes not smoking. Ned's foulness grew no easier to bear and the distant battle did not diminish. One of the men coughed. In hindsight Hud could not tell which of them had done it, he suspected Commie wouldn't know either. He imagined it was Ned, coughing himself back to life, a horrible little daydream he prayed would not come to fruition. Hud's eye was drawn to the Commie, who was piling pebbles into small pyramid shapes. A hundred thousand more, Hud mused, and they could bury Ned. "So, you were fighting for the King. What's he like?" Hud smacked his lips and contemplated the Commie's question for a minute "He's a turd, like anyone else really. His old man was worse I guess." The Commie nodded and the silence resumed for another minute or two before Hud had a question of his own "How's that working man's revolution going," he asked half-heartedly. "Amazing. We're waiting for China and Cuba to send reinforcements," the Commie proclaimed dryly. Hud smiled at that and continued to observe the Commie piling stones. The Commie had moved on to some of the larger rocks nearby, though they were still small things dwarfed within his palm. "Got anything waiting for you back...where you guys live again?" "Communal ranch," the Commie mused "And a lot of back-breaking work. You?" Hud looked over his shoulder, back in the direction of the Kingdom. "I've got a girl, she's a trader. Sells scrap and other stuff to the Brotherhood up by the lakes, near Chicago." The Commie sucked air through grit teeth "You haven't heard then, some of those Gigantes out of Nashville, from the 9th? Went rogue, fragged their squad leader and started pillaging the countryside between the Kingdom and the Lakes. Man, your girl's ass could be entertaining those guys right now." "You think so Comrade," Hud said with a sudden darkness. He watched the Commie continuing to pile rocks, then he pulled his knife and stabbed the Commie between the ribs and into the lung. Hud clasped his other hand over the Commie's mouth as he pulled the knife out and stabbed again, and again, not unlike his treatment of Ned all those hours ago. Hud pushed the Commie on top of Ned and watched him go pale. Category:Blog posts